Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

Forecast of unemployment rate in Ukraine according to methodology of international labor organization until 2025

Forecast of unemployment rate in Ukraine according to methodology of international labor organization until 2025

Source: Open4Business.com.ua

“Foxtrot” has expanded its network to 124 stores and increased e-commerce

In 2022-24, omnichannel retailer Foxtrot expanded its network from 90 to 124 stores, the company’s press service reports.

“Since February 24, 2022, the company has chosen a development strategy: to continue working, support the economy, organize the processes inherent in peacetime, taking into account the security component of wartime, and help the defenders of Ukraine. The events of the last three years have only strengthened the company, made us more flexible, adaptive to daily challenges and accelerated the process of implementing changes and innovations as much as possible,” said Oleksiy Zozulya, CEO of the retailer.

“Foxtrot continued to expand and renovate its existing stores (including after enemy missile attacks), paying attention to barrier-free and inclusive environment. Thus, while the company operated 90 stores in March 2022, as of the beginning of 2025, the chain has 124 retail outlets in 66 cities, including Kherson, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. The company was the first in the electronics market to launch a sign language service for deaf people, which operates in 30 stores on Foxtrot.ua and continues to scale. In addition, as part of the development of barrier-free accessibility, the company has started adapting the retail space in its stores.

The company has paid almost UAH 1.9 billion in taxes since the beginning of the full-scale war, including almost UAH 1 billion in 2024. Considerable attention is paid to e-commerce, with the turnover of the Foxtrot.ua online store growing by 42% last year.

The retailer’s most significant social initiative is systematic direct assistance to the Ukrainian Defense Forces. Currently, the total amount of equipment donated by Foxtrot to the defenders is over UAH 43.5 million, which includes 8882 units of equipment. As part of the campaign, Foxtrot together with the Aerorazvidka NGO raised almost UAH 700 thousand to train the military in IT tools. To support children affected by Russian aggression, the Give a Piece of Goodness campaign continues. As part of the project “Eat to Support Indestructible Animals”, we purchased UAH 2 million worth of food, medicines, and kennels for residents of 63 shelters.

“Foxtrot is one of the largest omnichannel retail chains in Ukraine in terms of the number of stores and sales of electronics and household appliances. The company operates 124 stores in 66 cities, including the frontline cities of Kherson, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, an online platform Foxtrot.ua and a mobile application of the same name.

According to Opendatabot, the net income of FTD-Retail LLC (Kyiv), which develops the chain, amounted to UAH 9.9 billion in 9M2024, with a net loss of UAH 110 million.

The Foxtrot brand is developed by the Foxtrot group of companies. The co-founders are Valery Makovetsky and Gennady Vykhodtsev.

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Ukrainian chain Gabar has opened its first fast food restaurant in Krakow

Ukrainian chain Gabar, which is developed by Vladimir Matviychuk, one of the co-owners of retailer Galia Baluvana, has opened the first fast food establishment MultiBar in Krakow, the chain’s press service said on Facebook.

“We have pleasant news. Opening of a new generation fast food MultiBar from Gabar chain in Krakow, Poland! Friends, we are very pleased to announce that we have opened. You have been waiting for so long, and now your favorite dishes are available already in Krakow”, – said in the message.

Gabar added that the cafe operates at Wielicka 259, Krakow, 30-663.

Earlier, the first Multicook frozen meal store with fast food MultiBar started operating in the US Los Angeles. Then Matviychuk noted that in the future all Multicook will be opened in a format with MultiBar. It is planned to open 150 such establishments abroad by the end of 2025.

As reported, adapted to the European market franchise of the Ukrainian chain of stores “Galia Baluvana” under the Multi Cook brand has been developing since 2022. At the moment it is represented by more than 250 stores in 25 countries. In parallel with the Multi Cook brand another direction is developing abroad – Multibar. This is a chain of establishments that offers visitors ready-to-eat and on-site meals.

According to Poster POS research, the chain “Galia Baluvana” in 2025 took the second place in the TOP-10 restaurant companies in terms of the rate of opening new locations. It opened 70 locations in Ukraine. In addition, the company continues to develop other projects: Gabar establishments (9 new locations), Polish franchise Wesola Pani (40 new locations) and MultiCook abroad (150 new locations).

 

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Italy plans to join Ukraine’s energy recovery

Italy will join the processes of Ukraine’s reconstruction, in particular the restoration of the energy sector, says Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

“There can’t be negotiations without Ukraine and without Europe. It is impossible to agree on an agreement without Ukraine and without Europe…. Peace must come together with strong security guarantees for Ukraine,” he said on Monday in Kiev, speaking at a plenary session of the ‘Support Ukraine’ program.

According to Tajani, peace must be stable and lasting for Ukraine, and Italy would be happy to discuss Ukraine’s future. “Rebuilding, rebuilding, trade. We want tourists to visit Ukrainian cities and Ukrainians to visit our universities and our cities. We will participate in the rebuilding process,” he emphasized.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, Italy, in particular, will join the restoration of the energy sector.

“We are organizing an international conference on reconstruction. It will be held in Rome on July 10-11 this year. We want to organize what will be a huge success for Ukraine,” Tajani informed.

 

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“Metinvest” to invest UAH 8.2 bln in production in 2025

Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group plans to invest almost UAH 5.7 billion in 2025 to develop its Kryvyi Rih mining and processing plants and UAH 2.5 billion in production at Kametstal (Kamianske, Dnipro region), despite the difficulties of wartime.

According to Yuriy Ryzhenkov, Metinvest’s CEO, this is a record amount in recent years, and a significant portion of it will be used to maintain the efficiency of key equipment and technological processes to ensure stable production.

The group’s press release states that its plants in Mariupol and Avdiivka were damaged by enemy shelling and the cities were occupied. Metinvest has also recently suspended operations at Pokrovske Coal Group due to the changing situation on the frontline, electricity shortages and the deteriorating security situation.

The rest of the Group’s assets in Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhzhia and Kamianske continue to operate at varying levels of utilization, taking into account security, energy, logistics and economic factors. The priority is to take care of employees, and all of the group’s enterprises in Ukraine have bomb shelters.

The CEO added that over the three years of the full-scale invasion, the group has allocated UAH 8.4 billion to help Ukraine and its citizens, including UAH 4.4 billion for the needs of the army as part of the Rinat Akhmetov Steel Front military initiative.

“From the first day of the full-scale invasion and three years later, we continue to fight for Ukraine. Despite the challenges of wartime, Metinvest has managed not only to survive but also to maintain its status as an export leader, a pillar of the state, and one of the largest donors to the Armed Forces. All of this is thanks to the contribution of every Metinvest employee in Ukraine and abroad. We are united by a common goal – to bring victory closer by all means available. And after that, to become the foundation for post-war reconstruction,” Ryzhenkov said, as quoted by the press service.

It is emphasized that paying taxes is an important contribution to supporting the economy of Ukraine and the frontline regions. As of the end of 2024, Metinvest is the largest taxpayer in the mining and metals industry.

In addition, the Group has set up production for the army, is engaged in mine clearance, has launched mine trawls and allocated resources to purchase equipment, ammunition and machinery for the frontline.

“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. The group’s enterprises are located mainly in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovs’k regions. The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it.

Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.

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EVA expands e-commerce logistics capacities after acquiring warehouse in Brovary

The Ukrainian drogerie chain EVA (Rush LLC) plans to expand its e-commerce logistics capacities after acquiring a warehouse in Brovary from Dragon Capital, the chain’s press service reports.

According to the report, the acquisition of the facility of the subsidiary SC Omega-1 Logistic in Brovary is due to the rapid expansion of e-commerce, which means an increase in the range and number of orders in the EVA.UA online store.

“Starting from the third quarter of this year, we plan to start re-equipping the facility acquired from Dragon Capital. In 2026, we plan to move our warehouse there, which will serve the EVA retail network in the central regions of Ukraine,” Olha Shevchenko, Executive Director of Rush LLC, said in a statement.

According to her, EVA’s own distribution center in Kyiv region with a total area of 43 thousand square meters is divided into a warehouse for the retail network (22 thousand square meters) and e-commerce (21 thousand square meters). After the re-equipment of the acquired warehouse with the area of 19.1 thousand square meters, the company plans to fully dedicate its distribution center to e-commerce.

The acquisition of the asset near the existing warehouse will also allow the company to keep its team in Brovary, Shevchenko said.

As reported, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine granted permission to Rush LLC to acquire SC Omega-1 Logistic in January 2024. The sale was completed in February.

Rush LLC, which manages the EVA network, was founded in 2002. At the end of 2024, the chain had about 1080 operating stores.

According to Opendatabot, the owner of Rush LLC is Cyprus-based Incetera Holdings Limited (100%), with Ruslan Shostak and Valeriy Kiptyk as the ultimate beneficiaries.

According to the results of three quarters of 2024, Rush’s revenue amounted to UAH 19.2 billion and net profit amounted to UAH 1.2 billion. In 2023, the company’s revenue increased by 33.7% to UAH 21 billion compared to 2022, while net profit increased by 26% to UAH 2.2 billion.

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